Motor vehicles are commonly equipped with a vehicle occupant restraint system including a seat belt that is disposed about the seated occupant and latched via a seat belt buckle. The buckle may be mounted on the vehicle seat or on the vehicle structure.
It has been proposed in the prior art to mount the seat belt buckle on a presenter mechanism which will move the buckle relative to the seated occupant. For example, when the occupant has entered the seat and is ready to buckle the belt, the buckle may be moved more upwardly and forwardly to make the buckle more accessible. Then upon being buckled, the buckle may be withdrawn to location where the seat belt will be effectively positioned in its restraining position about the occupant. In addition, the presenter may be employed to pretension the belt about the occupant.
It would be desirable to provide a seat belt buckle presenter that would also adapt to the particular operating conditions of the vehicle and the occupant to thereby provide optimal restraint of the seated occupant by limiting the seat belt load experienced by the occupant.